Cleburne Times-Review, Cleburne, TX

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September 23, 2009

Joshua built the stadium and the fans came

By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com

JOSHUA — Build it, it’s been said, and the people will come.

Joshua ISD constructed a new Owl Stadium in the offseason, and the people came running last Friday night to the ticker of a $19,100 gate, undoubtedly best in the school’s history.

In that the new stadium seats 8,000 — 5,000 on the home side and 3,000 on the visitors’ side — the $19,100 record may fall when Stephenville comes to town in a few weeks.

“It’s good to see we have the capacity at the stadium to handle more people comfortably and safely,” Joshua Superintendent Ray Dane said at Monday night’s school board meeting. “It’s an indication people are enthused about our football program and about our facilities. We couldn’t have put that many people in our old stadium.”

Gate receipts are not an indication of attendance.

“We count tickets, but we also let people in on passes,” Dane said.

Whatever money comes in through the gate sweetens a large pot.

“That money goes into the general fund to cover expenses of the program,” Dane said.

Dane also announced that one new teacher has been hired at Caddo Grove Elementary because of student growth and that Joshua ISD would seek a waiver from Texas Education Agency for class sizes of 23 in three sections of fourth grade at Staples Elementary.

Overall enrollment is up 222 since the end of school last year. The current enrollment of 4,745 is up 82 over September 2008.

“I‘m more interested in a comparison of what we had at the beginning of school last year,” Dane said. “You usually wind up the year with fewer than you had when you started.”

The state gives you money per student. That money can be offset if the majority of the new enrollment is at the elementary level, where class sizes are mandated by the state.

“It depends on where the students show up,” Dane said. “In this case, we hired an additional first grade teacher at Caddo Grove. That’s one of two campuses we projected to grow, and it grew a little more than we thought it would. Having to hire a new teacher there was not unexpected.

“When we did our [enrollment] survey at Staples, one fourth grade section was over by one student. Two more students have enrolled since then, so now we’re over in three sections. If we continue to grow there, we’ll consider adding a fourth section (of fourth graders). Most of the growth since last year has been at North Joshua and Caddo Grove. Staples grew a lot, too, but that was because of realignment.”

Joshua ISD and TxDOT continue to debate the merits of a stoplight that JISD supports on Farm-to-Market Road 1902 at the entrance to Caddo Grove Elementary and the new middle school. TxDOT is saying no. So is the city of Burleson, in whose city limits the light would be.

“TxDOT said it was not in their budget plans and that the last traffic survey did not indicate a light was warranted,” Dane said. “Burleson’s philosophy is that if development causes the need for a light, the developer should pay for it. In this case, the developer is Joshua ISD. We would find money for it if we decided it was a safety issue that needed to be addressed.”

The trustees honored Plum Creek Elementary assistant principal Shelly Green, who received a Hero Award from Ernie Horn, from the Metroplex program Score A Goal in the Classroom.

In a limited number of action items, the trustees:

zx Approved the hiring of school resource officers at the high school and middle school at a cost of $90,000.

zx Approved the hiring of an officer for absent student assistance for $54,800.

zx Approved Zach Davis and Chris Schneider, county Extension agents and 4-H leaders, as adjunct faculty members for the school year.

zx Approved the appointment of a School Health Advisory Council.

zx Approved the class size waiver request for Staples Elementary.

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